She'll be back
by sarrah94
Summary: Small three part story about what happens when two soulmates find each other again. Alice/Hatter
1. Chapter 1

**Something I wrote about three years ago, so please, don't be too harsh…**

**I don't own Alice, or Hatter, or anyone else mentioned here, bla bla and all the rest…**

**Enjoy!**

_She was here. I had her._

The Hatter lies down in the grass, his hat resting on his chest. The sun gently turns the sky pink as it sets behind the white castle. He sighs heavily.

_I could have made her stay._

His mind grows blurry. He twists a blade of grass back and forth between his fingers, trying to remember.

_Was she really here?_

He shakes his head. _Of__course__she__was.__Don__'__t__be__stupid._

He smiles. A small, sad smile, remembering the first time she stumbled into Underland. He knew she had been special. He knew she would be back.

_She didn't have to leave. She could have stayed here with me._

He hears a sound that jolts him from his thoughts. Horses galloping close by. He sits up and places his hat on his head to hide the emotion from his eyes. He hears rustling in the grass. It gets louder and louder and before long he sees the edge of a white crinoline from under the rim of his hat. Then, a soft voice calls to him.

"Hatter."

_The Queen. I can't let her see me like this._

"Hatter, look at me."

Still no answer. He plays with the blades of grass like a shy five year old. He hears a sigh and the White Queen's concerned face and gentle eyes come into view. She kneels in the grass and removes his hat, placing it on her lap. Her voice is almost a whisper now.

"She's gone. It's okay."

He feels his cheeks get hot, and closes his eyes to keep the tears in. He lowers his head, ashamed. The queen places one hand on each side of his face, and tilts his head to look at her. He opens his eyes but looks away. She wipes a lone tear from his cheek with her thumb.

"She'll be back."

Suddenly angered, He looks at her.

"No she won't."

The Queen is surprised. "She promised."

A mix of rage and sorrow rises in him. He gets to his feet suddenly and his voice rises to a shout.

"Do you think she cares? Do you think she thinks this was anything else than a dream? She didn't remember us last time! What was so different about it this time? She's gone! And even if she did remember, Do you really think that she would come back just for us? She probably doesn't even think that freaks like us…"

He trails off, his voice cut off with emotion.

…_That freaks like us are real._

He looks up. The Queen's cheeks have reddened in contrast to her white skin. She is standing silently, clutching the hatter's top hat tightly in front of her. She looks up.

"But what if she does remember?"

Flustered and unsure what to do, the hatter walks to where the Queen stands, and rips his hat childishly from her delicate hands. He then places the hat on his head, walks a few steps away from her, and flops onto the ground, cross-legged, his back turned away from her pleading gaze. A few moments later, he hears the soft shifting of the queen's feet as she walks back to where her horse is waiting.

Wiping his tears angrily, the hatter falls onto his back once again. Night had now fallen and the moon was hiding behind the thick clouds. A few stars serve as the only source of light.

_She can't possibly think an old hat maker like me has feelings._

He takes his hat off his head and examines it, pulling out any loose strings.

_She had such pretty golden hair…_

_Could've made her a hat. _

He laughs wildly at the ridiculousness of his sentence.

_Could've made her all sorts of hats._


	2. Chapter 2

Alice wakes suddenly with tears swelling up in her eyes.

_I dreamt of him again. _

For the past few days, she had been dreaming of a mysterious man. A hat maker with caring warm eyes and a shy smile. She had no idea who this being was. But every time she woke up she felt an agonizing sadness over realizing that he was, in fact, a dream.

She sighs, placing her head in her hands, shaking away the drowsiness. After a few moments, she reaches into her bedside table drawer and pulls out a small tattered notebook. She opens it on her lap, where a rough drawing of him lies, unfinished.

_His eyes. There was something about them._

She begins to draw the man's eyes, careful to include every detail. She had noticed how the flecks of gold in his irises reflected the moonlight, especially when he smiled at her.

She pauses.

_What's the point?_

But she knew very well what the point was. She wanted to find him. And if she couldn't, she wanted to find a man that looked at her like he did.

She suddenly throws the sheets off herself and begins to tie her hair.

_I need to go outside._

She begins to wander in her father's gardens, admiring the white roses. She suddenly has a strange thought.

_Those roses should be red._

She stops at a willow tree at the very end of the path. Then, hiking her dress up to her knees, she carefully climbs until she can no longer be seen beneath the foliage. She perches herself between two branches and looks over into the vast garden. This is the spot where she can hide from the world, or sometimes try to enter the world in her dreams, the one where _he_ lives.

_Mother says I need a husband…In fact, I have to meet another suitor today. But I don't want them. I want him._

She chuckles to herself.

_Oh yes, that would go very well with mother, having a husband that doesn't exist…_

…_But he is real. I know it._

Pensive, she looks down at her dirty nightclothes. Then she sees something past it, on the grass, a few feet from the tree trunk. A large hole is there. Surprised she hasn't seen it before, she jumps down from her perch and kneels on the grass. Placing her hands on each side of the hole, she leans in for a better look.

_I__must__be__crazy_, she thinks, because, for a second, she catches what she thinks is a glimpse of a faint light in the depths of the never ending hole.

_This just doesn't make sense._

Yet, she has a vague feeling of deja-vu. Leaning in even farther, she feels her grip slipping. She desperately tries to grab on to loose ends of grass, twigs, anything…

And then she falls. Headfirst, she feels herself slowing down, until she feels like a leaf, swaying in the wind. Softly, falling…


	3. Epilogue

_Falling…Falling…_

Alice comes to rest on a monumental purple mushroom. She giggles suddenly.

_This is ridiculous. Mushrooms aren't purple._

Looking beneath the mushroom, she catches a glimpse of a fluffy white tail. Something tells her she has to follow it, so she does. She goes past polka dotted trees and furry boulders and flowers with faces. Everything seems to be wrapped in wisps of blue smoke. She hears what she thinks is her name, whispered softly in the wind, as if the scenery itself was calling to her.

_Alice…Alice…_

Then suddenly she is in an open field, the smoke has cleared, and the rabbit is nowhere to be seen. In the distance, she sees…a hat. Just a hat in the tall grass. Then a figure rises from the grass and lazily places the hat on his head. Sitting up, the man looks at her.

Tears form in her eyes and she runs with all her might. She falls onto the hatter and knocks him back onto the ground. They both laugh. He looks at her with gold speckled eyes.

"You came back."

"Of course I came back."

He smiles at her and places his head back into the turquoise grass. She leans her head on his jacket. He smells of peppermint and tea leaves. She embraces him tightly.

_Ill never leave again. I promise._


End file.
